Dredge bucket



De. 1l, 1934. w. H. s'rlREs DREDGE BUCKET Filed July 6 1933 Patented Dec. 1l, 1934 UNITED -STATES DREDGE BUCKET William H. Stires, High Bridge, N. J., assigner to Taylor-Wharton Iron & Steel Company, High Bridge, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 6, 1933, Serial No. 679,259

9 Claims.

The .invention is addressed to the proposition of prolonging the effective life of dredge buckets by arming them with detachable lips thattake the brunt of the wear attendant on digging effort.` l

In another application, Serial No. 617,467, I have described and claimed a dredge bucket and lip assembly having certain characteristic features including interlocking provisions whereby the use of rivets is eliminated and whereby it is possible to remove the lip in the field of service withl facility and dispatch should repairs or replacements become necessary or expedient. The interlock involved devices formed on the hood and lip and susceptible of sliding engagement whereby they are effective as guides to register the elements in proper relation and whereby, in conjunction with a taper bolt, they also are effective to secure rigid front seating of the lip; the terminals of the lip being secured against uplift or other creeping, such as may be caused by digging stress, by telescopic connection with the hood.

The new assembly has gone into extensive use and the general approbation of the trade indicates that it has filled a long-felt want and is predicated on sound engineering. I have found, however, that without departing from the principle of the invention I can improve on my original concept to the end of still further economies and general eiiiciency.

For example, in the application already alluded to, the multiple guides were located on the hood of the bucket thereby adding to the foundry problems and to the initial cost as well as the cost of maintenance of the bucket. I have improved on that, construtcion by integrating the multiple or twin sets of guides with the lip thereby effecting a considerable economy as well as reinforcing or buttressing the lip at points where great strength is desired, namely, on the flanks of the front apron. I also have improved upon the system of anchorage for thehood terminals by modifying the construction andai-rangement to the end that the lip terminals may be quickly engaged or cradled with respect to abutments formed on the hood whereby they may be rocked to proper registering and seating relation with the hood, means being provided to take up any looseness that may be present either because of some slight mist of the parts or because of some shift or "creepin'g that ensues under digging stress.

The nature, characteristic features, and scope of the invention more readily will be understood from the following detailed description taken 'in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof, wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a. dredge bucket and lip assembly embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail, partly in section, showing the application of a taper bolt for adjustably securing the guides in proper draw relation.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

`Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. l.

The bucket, shown at 5, may be of standard or usual construction; and the lip, shown at 6, may have any desired form of cutting edge '7.

As in my application before alluded to, the bucket hood, with relation to its accommodation of the lip, is formed on the inside with lip seating areas defined by shoulders 8 which, forwardly, -vanish in the body of the hood, and which, rearwardly, terminate in abutments 9, which materially assist in the application of the lip and also function as holddowns for the lip ter-z minals. The abutments 9 are in the form ofv cored pockets whereof the outer or major portion is obliquely disposed to simplify the intro-` duction of the lip terminals and whereof the inner section is on a different angle and has an opening in the back wall to accommodate a through fastening means such as the taper bolt- 10. The hood of the bucket affords a rim seat for the replaceable lip the enus of which, in the initialseating operation, are loosely supported by the pockets whereby the lip is permitted a circumscribed arc of movement to enable it to' posture itself upon the rim seat in wedge-tightening relation.

The adjustable digging member or lip 6 is formed with a front apron 11 and with side aprons 12. The front apron laps the outer front wall of the bucket and the side aprons lap the inside walls of the bucket, the lip seating areas defined by shoulders 8 making for ush seating of the aprons so that the bucket is entirely free from choking propensity. The lip is materially strengthened or reinforcedk in the areas flanking the front apron by sets of spaced ribs 13 which cooperate with single ribs 14 `formed on the bucket to center or register the lip in proper seating relation with the bucket. Ribs. 13 shroud the ribs 14 and take any wearthat otherwise would be absorbed by it. The relatively interlocking or slidably engaging ribs are formed with registering transverse openings to accommodate a suitable shackle which preferably is in the form of a taper bolt 15 whereby adjustments may be made from time to time and as may be necessary to take up any looseness in the front part of the lip and bucket assembly.

The element 16, when present, serves to shroud and protect the complemental nut 17 of the taper bolt. The ends or terminals 18 of the lip take a decided dip and are of generally polygonal form to lit the cored pockets prepared for them. The walls of the bucket are thickened for the proper establishment of the pockets and so also the lip is thickened in the region of its terminals to insure proper symmetry and non-clogging or choking parts and to provide a thrust or bearing surface 19 whose thrust is taken by the edge shoulder 20, it being understood that in order that such arrangement may be effective there is clearance 21 between the lip ends and the proximate walls of the cored areas or pockets. Under ini- 'tial seating conditions it is not unlikely that the described arrangement of anchorage would prove adequate to prevent rising or forward movement of the lip ends. However, under stress of digging eiort creeping would occur which would cause undesirable looseness of the lip and tend greatly to impair its eiective life. It is, therefore, a further merit of my present invention that I provide for preventing or for compensating for conditions tending to looseness of the parts. The provision is preferably in the form of a wedge-fastening or taper bolt 10 which is accommodated in the lower and reversely formed section of the cored pocket, said bolt passing clear through to receive a complementa! nut 22. The bolt acts as a chock to keep the lip ends always properly jammed with relation to the abutments. n

What is claimed is:-

1. A dredge bucket comprising a hood having a rim seat and having bearing surfaces obliquely disposed with relation to said seat, and a lip having downwardly and rearwardly slanted terminals adapted to establish fulcrum relation with said bearing surfaces whereupon the lip may be swung through a circumscribed arc into tightening seating relation with the rim.

2. A dredge bucket in combination with a. wearing lip straddling the edge wall of the bucket and having aprons whereof one laps the outer front wall of the' bucket and whereof others are substantially ush seated internally of the bucket, ribs in spaced relation anking the front apron,

Aand complemental ribs on the bucket in slidable engagement with the first-mentioned ribs for the purpose and with the result of centering the bucket and lip assemblage, the ribs of the lip being constructed, arranged, and eiective to shroud and protect the bucket ribs from wear.

3. A dredge bucket comprising a hood having a rim seat and opposed cored pockets obliquely disposed with relation to said seat, and a lip having inside and outside aprons and terminals conforming to said pockets and establishing fulcrum relation therewith so that the lip may move through a circumscribed arc into tightening straddling relation with the rim.

4. A dredge bucket comprising a hood having a rim seat` and reinforced cored areas beyond the same and directed in a rearward and; downward s1ant,'and a lip having terminals receivable in said cored areas to permit the lip to be swung into tightening straddling relation with the rim.

5. A dredge bucket comprising a hood having a; rim seat and reinforced rearwardly slanted cored areas, a Ylip having bearing portions engageable with said cored areas to permit the lip to be swung into tightening relation with the rim, and chocks for said bearing portions.

6. A dredge bucket formed with a lip seat including relieved and shouldered defined areas well within the mouth of the bucket, and a lip mounted on the bucket and havlnga medial apron lapping the outside front wall of thebucket and side aprons which lap the insidel walls of the bucket and are substantially flush seated in the seat accommodation thereof, the hood ofthe bucket having reinforced cored areas obliquely disposed with relation to the plane.of-'the lip seat and wherein the ends of the lip may .be fulcrumed to permitl it to be swung througha cir'- cumscribed arc to straddling position on the lip seat, and means accommodated in the'coredareas for wedging the lip ends after the lip is seated,

7. A dredge bucket formed with a lip seat including relieved and shouldered-defined' areas well within the mouth of the bucket, and a--lip mounted ony the bucket and having a'medial apron lapping the outside front wall of the bucket and 'side aprons which lap the inside Walls'of the bucket and are substantially flush seated in the seataccommodation thereof, abutments. constituting holddowns for the lip ends, said-holddowns 'comprising cored pockets to receive the lip ends and having a through sectionxto accommodate a compensating device.

8. A dredge bucket having a lip seat, and a quickly detachable lip having aprons respectively lapping the outside and inside wallsof the bucket, and means for adjustably securing the lip with relation to the bucket including cored pockets eiective as holddowns for the lip ,ends and having throughways to accommodate devices eiective to overcome looseness.

9. A dredge bucket having a lip seat, and a quickly detachable lip having aprons respectively lapping the outside and inside walls of the bucket, abutments effective as holddowns .and as end thrust devices for the lip ends, and adjustable chocks cooperating with the abutments and lip ends.

WILLIAM H. STIRES. 

